Vending apparatus



3, 1937. A. HEILAND 2,088,856

VENDING APPARATUS Filed Aug. 18, 1954 5 SheetsSheet l Arthur Headland.

Attorney.

Aug. 3, 1937. A. HEILAND VENDING APPARATUS Filed Aug. 18, 1954 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 //VVENTOR ARTHUR HEILAND.

flf'roRn/EY.

Aug. 3, 1937. A. HElLAND VENDING APPARATUS Filed Aug. 18, 1954 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR.

. ARTHUR HEM. new.

ATTORNEY.

thereon.

invention isshown in the-accompanying drawings Patented Aug. 3, 1937 VENDING APPARATUS Arthur Heiland, Berlin-Rangsdorf, Germany Application August 18 1934, Serial No. 740,509

In Germany January 10, 1934 2 Claims.

"Iheinvention relates to coin-freed vending machines suitable for vending journals, magazines and other articles which-are of like or comparable shape or are packed in packages of such shape,

the machine being of'the kind in which the goods are supported on traysarranged in tiers, means being provided enabling the bottom tray to be released so that it drops and swings into an inclined position for delivery of the article Myinvention is concerned with the method of supporting the trays in their normal'position and releasing them one by one as sales are effected.

'Anf-example of apparatus'according to the in which Fig. 1 is a: sectional view," diagrammatic and partly bro-ken away; of theframe supporting and Figs; 4 and 5 are views of this mechanismfwith the parts in different positions.

chinejand pp i Figw'l is' a section on the line "n -b of- Fig; viewedfrom the right. 4 l i Within the casing of the-machine, not shown in the drawings, there is a frame composed of verticalposts 1;2; |a,'"2a, with crossb-ars at top and bottom. Within the frame are the trays 3, the posts I and 2 being channelled to engage lugs 4 at the rear corners of the trays. Brackets 5 carried by slides 6 are provided for supporting the trays in horizontal position. The slides 6 are movable between horizontal guide bars fixed to the frame, the guide bars 1 and 1a of one of them being shown in Figs. 3, 4, and 5, and also in Fig. 7. The brackets 5 are pivoted to the slides 6, on the outsides thereof, and are normally held in upright position by springs 28 (Figs. 3, 4, and 5). The brackets then project through slots. in the slides, as shown in Fig. '7, but can yield and swing outwards when trays 3 are pushed against them from below.

Each of the trays 3 has at each side two notches 9 (Figs. 2 and 6) and when the brackets 5 are by movement of the slides brought into register with these notches the tray drops. The notches 9 in successive trays are difierently placed, as indicated in'Fig. 2 by full lines and broken lines respectively, so that when the slides j Fig; 6 is-a horizontalfcross-section of the are movedto drop the bottom tray the trays above the same are retained.

.The apparatus is inside a casing not shown in the drawings, with'a door which can be opened for the purpose of introducing the magazines for sale. When the machine has been charged with magazines each of the trays resting on the brackets 5 has a magazine upon it, so that the megazines, except the one at'the top, lie between the trays.

' The two slides 6 are moved by purchasers of the journals or magazines, who for this purpose pull thedrawbar I3 shown in'Figs. 3 to 6, which has a stud 13a projecting from it on one side and is retractedby a spring I 3b. The trays released by pulling'this drawbar drop: on to brackets 10, H fixed to the frame, which support them in an inclined position, sothat the purchased ,journalor magazine slides through an aperture frame, *being mounted in bearings in the posts 2 "(Figs 3, Land 5). At each end this shaft has fixed thereto, outside the frame, av lever arm [8 havingatits upper end aqslot whereby it' engages a stud 8 projecting from one of the slides 6. The slides are by this means coupled for movement in unison.

The drawbar l3 rests on a flange of the guide bar I, at one side of the machine, as shown in Fig. 7, and is normally retracted by its spring l3b, as shown in Fig. 3. The nose of a spring loaded pawl l4 pivoted to the flange of the bar 1 then lies in the path of the stud I3a on the drawbar, so that only a short outward movement of the drawbar is possible, inefiective for moving the slides 6 unless a coin 30 of prescribed value has been dropped through a chute, not shown in the drawings, so that it comes to rest on the flange of the bar 1, within a lateral recess in the drawbar. When the drawbar is pulled with the coin in position as shown in Figs. 3 to 5 the coin strikes a flange Ma. of the pawl l4 and lifts the pawl out of the path of the stud I30, (Figs. 4, 5) so that the outward movement of the bar is not obstructed' The coin then drops into a chute 3| which conducts it to the till.

The drawbar has pivoted thereto a bell-crank lever [6, I1, which tends by gravity to rock into the position shown in Fig. 5, but when the bar is retracted a nose 22 on the arm l6 of the bellcrank lever abuts against a stud 2| on the flange of the guide bar 1, so that the bell-crank lever is held in the position shown in Fig. 3, with its arm l1 upright.

Pivoted at 26 to a lug 21 fixed to the flange of the bar 7 is a double armed rocker I5,'which faces the lever arm l6 and has near each end a recess into which that arm can engage. A pin 23 projects from the adjacent slide 6 into a slot in the upper arm of the rocker l5, sothat by movement of the rocker the slide can be moved to and fro.

Pivoted to the slide 6 is a latch l9 normally supported in horizontal position by a stud I90,

on the slide. An abutment 26 projecting laterally from this latch faces a nose at the upper end of the lever arm I! when that arm is in the vertical position shown in Fig. 3.

When the slide 6 is in its left hand end position, as shown in Fig. 3, the abutment 20 is remote from the lever arm I'Land if with the slide in that position the drawbar is pulled outwards, with a coin inserted, the abutment 20 does not obstruct the downward swing of the bell crank lever I6, I! when the nose 22 is removed from the stud 2|. The lever consequently assumes the position shown in Fig. 5, and when the drawbar has travelled through a certain distance the arm 16 strikes the lower arm of the rocker [5. Continued outward pull of the drawbar consequently causes the rocker to be rotated clockwise on its pivot, so that the slide 6 is moved to the right.

On release of the drawbar the same is retracted by the spring I312, and the bell-crank lever I6, l'l resumes the position shown in Fig. 3,

but this movement of retraction does not affect the position of the slide 6 and rocker I5. The abutment 20, moved to the right with the slide, is in the path of the backward swing of the arm [1, but is rounded at the back so that the nose on the arm I! trips the latch I9. When the latch drops back on to the stud lBa the flat face of the abutment 20 is close to the nose of the arm l1. I

The next outward pull of the drawbar, with a coin inserted, consequently has the effect illustrated in Fig. 4. The nose of the arm ll strikes the abutment 20, and the arm I6 is swung upwards, so that it engages the upper arm of the rocker l5, and continued movement of the bar causes the rocker to rotate anti-clockwise, so that the slide is moved to the left. 0n release and retraction of the drawbar the parts are again in the position shown in Fig. 3, so that the next pull of the drawbar will return the slide to its right hand end position.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:--

1. In a vending machine the combination of a column of trays having notches differently placed in successive trays, vertical guides for said trays, a reciprocable support for said column of trays adapted by movement to its end positions to be placed successively in register with said notches,

allowing successive trays to drop from the bottom of said column, a drawbar, a double armed rocker having one of its arms connected to said support for reciprocating the same by clockwise and anti-clockwise rotation, a member for actuating said rocker, carried by said drawbar and movable thereon into two alternative operative positions, for engaging the two arms of said rocker respectively, and imparting clockwise and anticlockwise rotation thereto, said actuating member tending automatically to assume one of its said alternative positions, and an abutment placed in the path of said actuating member by movement of said support to one of its end positions, by a movement of said drawbar, whereby said actuating member is moved to its other alternative position by the next movement of said drawbar.

2. In a vending machine the combination of a column of trays having notches differently placed in successive trays, vertical guides for said trays, a reciprocable support for said column of trays adapted by movement to its end positions to be placed in register with said notches, allowing successive trays to drop from the bottom of said column, a drawbar, mechanism actuatable by said drawbar for reciprocating said support, including a member movable into two alternative operative positions whereby said mechanism is able to move said support to its two end positions alternatively, and means whereby movement of said support to one of its end positions by a movement of said drawbar causes said movable member, when said drawbar makes its next movement, to be moved to the operative position for moving said support to its other end position.

ARTHUR HEILAND. 

